When the Levees Broke
WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE Ron Young Bryant and Stratton College Phil 250 Ms. Obradovich February 8, 2013
In August 2005 there was a massive storm brewing and growing into a storm like no other storm, Hurricane Katrina. In the days before the storm hit, there were many agencies gathering information and trying to give a good guess on when, where, and how bad this storm was going to be. Some people listened and prepared and some did not. Why? Why didn’t some people even know the storm was coming? Why did some leave? Why did some stay? Who were these people? Not too sure how much critically thinking was going on here, or was there, and the people of New Orleans could not do anything else but stay. The documentary showed that most people that left were the ones who could afford to leave and the rest were left to fend for themselves. By law if there is a mandatory evacuation ordered, then all must be given ways out of the area by government help, which by the movie said never happened. Then the storm hit, what a disaster. The documentary showed the total devastation of the area. It then explained the perceived lack of governmental support after the storm. Based on reports from the news agencies that survived the storm, no help showed up for 5 days. This was supported by the number of people interviewed in this documentary and the pictures at the storm shelters set up throughout the city. The mayor, Ray Nagin, after 5 days of asking for help and finally bad mouthing the government, something finally got started to help the people. The Levees Broke (Lee, 2006) ended as showing that still, over 6 years later, the people of New Orleans are still struggling to survive every day with very little help from the government. Due to the total perceived action of how Hurricane Katrina was handled, the people in the movie are inferring that this occurred and is still occurring because they are poor black people, with no education, and the United States
In August 2005 there was a massive storm brewing and growing into a storm like no other storm, Hurricane Katrina. In the days before the storm hit, there were many agencies gathering information and trying to give a good guess on when, where, and how bad this storm was going to be. Some people listened and prepared and some did not. Why? Why didn’t some people even know the storm was coming? Why did some leave? Why did some stay? Who were these people? Not too sure how much critically thinking was going on here, or was there, and the people of New Orleans could not do anything else but stay. The documentary showed that most people that left were the ones who could afford to leave and the rest were left to fend for themselves. By law if there is a mandatory evacuation ordered, then all must be given ways out of the area by government help, which by the movie said never happened. Then the storm hit, what a disaster. The documentary showed the total devastation of the area. It then explained the perceived lack of governmental support after the storm. Based on reports from the news agencies that survived the storm, no help showed up for 5 days. This was supported by the number of people interviewed in this documentary and the pictures at the storm shelters set up throughout the city. The mayor, Ray Nagin, after 5 days of asking for help and finally bad mouthing the government, something finally got started to help the people. The Levees Broke (Lee, 2006) ended as showing that still, over 6 years later, the people of New Orleans are still struggling to survive every day with very little help from the government. Due to the total perceived action of how Hurricane Katrina was handled, the people in the movie are inferring that this occurred and is still occurring because they are poor black people, with no education, and the United States
References: Lee, Spike. (2006). When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts Chaffee, J (2012). Perceiving and Believing. Thinking Critically (10th ed.). Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.